9/09/06

I stood outside the tent for a few moments tonight looking at what appeared to be a full moon. It lit up the whole area but nothing like I remember a full moon did when I was down in Tikrit.

Here the twinkling lights of Mosul, the abundance of brush, and the here and there trees, diminish it's effects.

Plus my camp by Tikrit, was not real close to the city, and Tikrit is not nearly as large as Mosul is. There we were surrounded by vast areas of sand...just sand. Hardly any trees, or brush. There I couldn't see the lights of Tikrit proper, but here, it is easy to see Mosul. Just turn your head.

Anyway, when it was dark there by Tikrit, it was dark. Like walking into a closet dark. You had to have a flashlight.

But when the moon was full... it lit up the barren sand and made the sand glow. You could leave your flashlight in your hooch, 'cause you didn't need it at all.

A warm breeze blowing, and the sand glowing brightly from the moonlight, it somehow made you feel like you were in a magical place.

Like a couple of the sandstorms we had, that were of biblical proportions. They would turn the middle of the day into night.
With a strange color of red.

I had stepped outside for a minute, to ponder what I had just witnessed and had been told by some soldiers.

I saw a bunch of the soldiers gathered around our sat. TV, so walked over to see what they were all so intently watching. It was a story on the news about how a soldier, not far from Ft. Lewis in Washington state, was beaten by 5 men.

According to this soldier's account. He said he was in uniform and was approached by 5 men. They asked him if he had been to Iraq, and he replied to them that he had. The 5 men then proceeded to beat him down, among other things, telling him he was a baby killer.

I couldn't believe I was hearing this, I haven't heard of such things like this since the Vietnam days. The 5 that did this are still at large.

Mostly it was surreal standing next to these soldiers...in Iraq...watching them, and their reaction to this report.

After it was over, a discussion of sorts started, and they began to tell me, that they were familiar with the area, and that this story didn't really surprise or shock them nearly as much as it did me.

One soldier told me he and some friends went on a short trip to Seattle, not far from Ft. Lewis one day. They wanted to see the sights, and enjoy some down time. He said they went to the Needle in Seattle to go up and see the view from the top. The soldier said after they all decided to go up, they went to to the booth to get a ticket.

As anyone that has been in the military knows, if there is a base close. You ask if they have a military discount, 'cause alot of places do, and when you are in the service, it's not like you are getting monster paychecks. So every little bit you can save, here and there, makes a big difference.

He told us that he and his friends walked up to the booth, and asked the person in the booth if they had a military discount and the guy in the booth so much as told them to F off and shut the little window on the booth. I was shocked.

Other soldiers also told me they had similar experiences at places all around that area from people on the street, to businesses. I can understand someone's view that the war is wrong, but damn!

I wonder if the terrorists would have flown a plane into the Needle or a StarBucks there, that these individuals would have taken a different position on the war.

Because you can bet your a** these guys wouldn't be treated like this in New York.

Maybe someone just needs to introduce these obviously ignorant people to the ballot box, that is where their misdirected anger should be placed.

Yesterday seemed to be "IED Day" in Mosul. Everyone I talked to coming off patrols was hit by IED's. Some were hit several times. Thank God, the only thing bad that happened, was one soldier had his leg broke and caught some shrapnel in his arm. This when an IED went off by his vehicle, and pieces of shrapnel pierced the vehicle's armor.

Other than that it was just more damn work for the insurance adjuster as several more vehicles got trashed.

With 9/11 approaching I found 3 big sheets of plywood, and made a makeshift memorial for the 5th anniversary. I pulled pics from the net and tacked them on the wood. It's sad to open the wound with these pictures and names, that probably really hasn't started to heal yet, but this...this is why we are all here. No one can forget that day...ever.

One board, a 6' X 4 sheet of plywood, I put all the names of those murdered on that day. I had to hang the sheets of names off the sides of the board after awhile. Even a board that big would not hold them all, and the names were printed pretty small.

I catch soldiers standing by these boards from time to time talking. Everyone knows where they were that day, and several I talked to enlisted right after 9/11because if affected them so much.

I thanked them for such a unselfish act, to offer their own life up, if necessary, in this battle, and told them the entire country, (well, except for that small area in Washington State...dammit), I am sure, thanks them too! Even the Turks and the Iraqi terps stand and look at the pictures and say what a tragedy it was.

The memorial service for our fallen Hero SFC Richard H. was held a couple days ago. He would have been proud of the nice things they said about him, and the pure Honor that permeated the whole tent on his behalf.

It just drives home this fact. Here there are no second chances, no re-takes and no do-overs.

Here, everyone is playing for keeps...